There appeared at about this time in England the translation of a letter in verse from D’Eon to Lord Mansfield, on the decision he had pronounced in the late trial. In his preface the translator frankly states that he has taken the liberty of deviating a little from the original, especially where Mademoiselle, in her address to his lordship, and in the warmth of her imagination, had seemed to have forgotten that she was in petticoats. The title page is illustrated with a plate representing the Chevalière in a double character, the right half of her body being in the dress of a dragoon with drawn sword in hand, the left half appearing as a buxom woman waving a fan.[343]

A variety of similar grotesque likenesses made their appearance, one by Bradel, in Paris, also representing the Chevalière in both sexes. Other portraits, however, were in glorification of the heroine, the most remarkable being that published in mezzo-tinto by S. Hooper, of Ludgate Hill, in which she appears as Pallas.[344]

One of these prints having found its way to Voltaire, to whom D’Eon was not entirely a stranger, the old sage wrote to his friend d’Argental:—

D’Eon’s affected gaiety at length gave way; she fell into a state of melancholy, and then became quite ill, physically and morally. The Queen’s physician, Lasone, and the King’s physician, Lieutard, were ordered to hold a consultation, and terminated their visit by saying to the patient: ‘Be comforted, dear lady; yours is an incurable complaint, and will disappear as it came.’[346]

But it was not in D’Eon’s nature to repose in moody silence, and she poured out her sorrows in pitiful appeals to the Counts de Sartines, de Vergennes, and de Broglio, praying, for the sake of her health, which was being seriously injured from want of exercise and the compulsory abandonment of the active habits of a lifetime, that she should be permitted to wear male attire, at least on Sundays and festivals; she was ashamed and sick at heart to be in petticoats, idly enjoying a pension instead of serving her King and country as she had been doing for so many years; and, further, she asked to be employed in the war that was on the eve of breaking out, France being about to become the active ally of the Americans.

The Chevalière had been exerting herself to save France from meddling in the War of Independence, undertaking to prove that the reasons alleged in the manifesto of the French Court were not founded either on philosophical or political arguments,[347] representations to which de Vergennes, who was easily accessible to her, was disposed to give his attention. But Beaumarchais had everything to gain by the prosecution of the war, and secured to himself all access to the French Court, to the exclusion of D’Eon, who found it impossible to approach either King or ministers. Individually, de Vergennes’ treatment of D’Eon had always been considerate, and at times indulgent, and since all her supplications to the several ministers had been treated with callous indifference, she imagined she might succeed in disburdening herself of the yoke imposed upon her by getting back to London if she could but secure his interest and influence. ’Tis said that James I. of England thought that if he were ever to be confined in a prison, he should wish that prison to be a library. D’Eon pleaded hard that her books and some valuable MSS., all ‘so dear to her purse and to her heart,’ were in London, where she desired to live in retirement with them for her companions. Her metamorphosis, her long illness, the war, the almost sudden death of Lord Ferrers, and the non-payment of monies legitimately due to her, had despoiled her of health and fortune, and she reminded the minister that the pledges contained in his letter of July 12, 1777, confirming the intentions of the late King in his order of April 1, 1766, left her at liberty to go whithersoever she would.[348]

The reply, in his Majesty’s name, was a firm refusal.

If D’Eon had sinned, she was as surely suffering. There was no hope whatever of escape from her bondage, and with her high spirit seemingly humbled, she sought, or pretended to seek for comfort in the consolations of religion. She retired, she says, speaking of herself, to different convents, that she might acquire the customs, habits, occupations and virtues which most became her, and if she had offered a bad example in wearing the King’s uniform in time of war, she made ample reparation by wearing, in time of peace, the Queen’s uniform amongst the ladies at Court; then she adds, comically enough, that it was to the edification of the Church and of her neighbours she retired frequently to the ‘Abbaye Royale des Dames de Hautes-Bruyères,’ to the ‘Maison des Demoiselles de St. Cyr,’ and to the ‘Monastère des Filles de Ste. Marie.’ In accepting the invitation to visit the ladies at St. Cyr, D’Eon thus wrote to Madame ——, one of the inmates:—

D’Eon’s strength of character enabled her to shape her deportment at the several retreats she visited with honourable and scrupulous observance of the rules of those institutions, conduct induced from prudential considerations, and she spent her time in the profuse waste of paper, writing prayers of her own composition, cunningly adapted to one in her singularly anomalous position, e.g.:—

At each of the homes where she stayed the Chevalière was supplied with formulas of prayer in MS., copied for her own special edification, as stated on the title-page of each pamphlet:—‘Oraisons de l’Eglise pour tous les temps de l’année Mpt. copié pour Mademoiselle D’Eon pendant sa retraite, en 1778, à l’Abbaye Royale des Dames de Hautes-Bruyères, dépendante de la célèbre Abbaye de Fontevrault fondée l’an 1100, par le bien-heureux Robert d’Arbrissel. Réflexions Morales. Sentiments de Piété. Sentiments sur l’Oraison Mentale.’

It is clear that the Chevalière was by no means yielding to the supposed advantageous influences by which she was surrounded, no benefit being conferred on her agitated mind by the religious austerity in the midst of which so many of her days were being passed. The profound meditations in which she indulged with others were not those of the cloister, her thoughts being too actively engaged in evolving to herself scheme after scheme for obtaining freedom from the restraint imposed by her hated petticoats, chafing as she was to join the King’s forces. It is true that the war being necessarily a naval one, it was not the soldiers of France who were called to the strife; but D’Eon showed herself equal to the occasion when addressing herself, this time to the Count de Maurepas, president of the council, more pathetically and entreatingly than to any of the other ministers:—

D’Eon must have been fully persuaded that escape out of her state of wretchedness was impossible, and that the pen and ink agitation, in which she was repeating so much sad nonsense, would prove fruitless, for, in writing, on the very next day, to her nephews who were about leaving to take part in the war, she playfully observed that the King, or rather his presiding minister, absolutely refused to allow her to join the forces, through fear, no doubt, that the indomitable English who in other days had burned, in Normandy, the Maid of Orleans, might now be guilty of drowning, in America, the Maid of Tonnerre! Whatever the intentions of the ministers with regard to the epicene D’Eon, her allusions to the de Guerchy family, and her ill-concealed desire to avenge herself on the son of her old and deceased enemy, could only have served to confirm them in their earliest resolution that she should not, under any circumstances, be liberated from the thraldom into which she had yielded her person.

Neglected by all at Court, and perhaps despised, as she conceived herself to be, the Chevalière resolved upon throwing off the badges of her servitude, and again appearing as a captain of dragoons; but she was immediately arrested and conveyed to the castle of the old Dukes of Burgundy, at Dijon, where she remained confined during the space of two months. Consenting to take things in a more philosophic spirit, and return to her laces and skirts, she was permitted to reappear in Paris, and there, on September 20, was confirmed, by order of the King and the Count de Vergennes, the draft of a deed granting a life-annuity of twelve thousand livres, out of the funds of the Department for Foreign Affairs, unto ‘Charlotte-Geneviève-Louisa-Augusta-André-Timothée D’Eon de Beaumont, formerly known as the Chevalier D’Eon;’ this being the first occasion upon which she was officially styled by her new appellations. After this D’Eon completely disappeared from society, having gone to live with her aged mother at Tonnerre, where travellers, impelled by natural curiosity, made it a point to see her if they could. In this way she entertained at her table Prince Henry of Prussia, brother to Frederick the Great, who had met her in Germany during the war.

D’Eon does not appear to have absented herself from Tonnerre until about the middle of 1785, when she went to stay with the Duchess de Montmorency-Bouteville, and at the Hôtel des Dames de France, in the Rue de Baume, Paris. France and England being again at peace, since September 1783, she was maturing her plans for obtaining permission to return to London, where she was anxious to recover the money that was owed to her, and save from dispersion the property she had left in charge of her landlord, who, unable to obtain any advance upon the rent due, had already, upon one occasion, publicly advertised for sale the ‘valuable library and curious manuscripts of the Chevalière D’Eon, to refund himself for the space occupied by the said library in his house during seven years’—a sale the Chevalière succeeded in arresting by some arrangement with her creditor.[353] It was not, however, until the rulers of France conceived the right moment had arrived, and they were as good as their word, that D’Eon received official intimation of her movements being relieved from all restriction, with freedom to leave France if she chose, and with scarcely a day’s delay she made her exit from Paris in a post-chaise, attended by her maid, arriving in London on November 17, and putting up at her old chambers in Brewer Street. She was well received by her friends of former days, amongst whom are specially named Lord Tamworth, Colonel Kemys Tynte,[354] and Mrs. Church.

With no other resources but the modest pension of 12,000 livres, D’Eon was hard pushed for very existence in the face of her liabilities, many of ancient date, notwithstanding the five thousand pounds sterling paid by Louis XVI. to extricate her out of her difficulties, for the monetary transactions between the French Chevalière and the English peer resulted in grievous distress to the former, as we shall presently see. Forced by reason of this to live in strict seclusion, we almost lose sight of her until April 9, 1787, the day appointed for an assault-at-arms in the presence of the Prince of Wales at Carlton House, and to which, as a fencer of distinguished reputation, she was invited. D’Eon and Mr. Angelo, Sen., were nominated by his Royal Highness judges for the occasion, there being present several of the most accomplished fencers of the day, such as the mulatto, the celebrated Saint-George, and his companions Fabien and de la Motte; also Angelo, Jun., Nogee, Reda, Rolland, and Goddard. The novelty of a lady in petticoats engaging the most experienced and able masters excited much mirth, even those who had known her en culottes being not a little surprised at the skill she displayed in fencing with Saint-George. Her petticoats did not incommode her in the least, but it was clear that the late captain of dragoons proved herself to be more expert at the risposte than a courtesy, and at handling a foil more gracefully than she did a fan. Quoting from another newspaper:—

Upon another occasion of the Chevalière’s appearing before the Prince of Wales, this time at the King’s Theatre, she was dressed in armour, with a casque and feather, representing Minerva or the Maid of Orleans.[356]

When Mr. Angelo died near Eton, in 1801, D’Eon deplored the loss of one of her oldest and best friends, for they had known each other fifty-five (sic) years, and she was indebted to him for many acts of kindness. The Chevalière, Wilkes, and the elder Sheridan were frequent guests at Angelo’s table, in his house in Carlisle Street, Soho Square, where they often sat for hours over the bottle, in lengthened arguments upon the politics of the day. D’Eon was Angelo’s most constant guest and bosom friend, staying at his house sometimes for weeks, and materially assisted him in his Treatise on Fencing. It was there that old Hone and Cosway met her. She had experienced the greatest pleasure in teaching young Angelo how to handle a foil, until at last they became strong antagonists, the latter, after reaching manhood, often taking much pains to put her out of humour. Speaking of her as a maître d’armes, Angelo found that he was violent and bien opiniâtre, though by no means a ferrailleur. Whatever he executed was correct and scientific.

Other announcements in the papers of the day show how the Chevalière turned to equally good account her skill in chess.

In 1788, when the country was sorrowing at symptoms of aberration in George III., the Chevalière issued an ‘Epître aux Anglais dans leurs tristes circonstances présentes’ (8vo. 48 pp.), complimentary to the Prince of Wales, which was well received and quickly reached a second edition.

We pass over the intermediate years until 1791, when the Chevalière burst upon London with the sudden announcement that her precious books and MSS. were about to be sold by public auction. The catalogue, prepared by herself, opens with an address to the Public,[359] in which are given the reasons which place her under the necessity of disposing, during her lifetime, of all she possesses. She had returned to London in 1785 for no other purpose than that of paying her creditors and collecting what was due to her, but she had been unable to succeed in this double object of her wishes. The reigning King of France, she went on to say, sensible of her military and political services, as well as of her innocence and the misfortunes she had experienced, had generously caused to be remitted to Washington, Earl Ferrers, through M. de Beaumarchais, on October 17, 1778, the sum of 5,000l. sterling, to be employed by the said Earl Ferrers, according to his promise, towards the discharge of her debts, so that she might be in a position to leave England honourably. Notwithstanding, however, the earl’s honour and probity, and his friendship for the Chevalière, he discharged a part only of her debts, and without first asking her consent, kept 3,000l. for his own private use, undoubtedly with the intention of returning the money, D’Eon having asked him to settle with her creditors, and especially with Mr. Duval, the King’s jeweller, who had advanced several sums during the Chevalière’s law-suits and distresses in London. Being urged to satisfy these claims, his lordship acknowledged that he had applied 3,000l. towards completing the furniture of his seat,[360] the working of a lead-mine, and of a lime-pit in his park of Staunton Harold, which had since produced an income of 600l. Being dissatisfied with this employment of her money, D’Eon wrote from London to entreat that upon his lordship’s return to town, he would afford to herself and to her creditors some security for the speedy reimbursement of the money. Lord Ferrers replied in three separate letters.

Alarmed at this intelligence, D’Eon repaired to the seat of his lordship,[364] who, fearing he should die, had signed a bond at five per cent. interest, payable at the expiration of five years instead of one year, as he had promised. D’Eon was not greatly pleased at this fresh delay, but finding there was no alternative, she accepted this bond, dated December 26, 1775, and payable in 1780, and transferred it, jointly with Lord Ferrers, to Mr. John Duval, on August 11, 1777, as security for the Chevalière’s debt to him, Lord Ferrers binding himself, verbally also, to be punctual to his engagement.

Relying upon his lordship’s honour and Mr. Duval’s probity, D’Eon left London for France with her mind quite at ease. The following year Lord Ferrers died, as did also Mr. Duval. It was impossible for D’Eon to return to England to obtain payment of the bond and reimburse the heirs of Mr. Duval, the King’s ministers having ordered his detention in France, and it was not until 1785 that she was able to attend to the affair in person. Being then again in England, she prevailed upon a common friend to treat with Robert, Earl Ferrers, brother and heir to the late earl, to obtain payment, but finding that his lordship only wished to gain time and keep her out of her money, she was obliged to bring an action against him in the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which she gained, on February 6, 1787, the funds for conducting the prosecution having been supplied by Lord Tamworth, in entire disapproval of his father’s conduct. Two months later this earl, who, according to Walpole, ‘deserved his ancient honours,’ died, referring to which event a daily paper observed:—

The will of the late earl contained directions that all his late brother’s and his own debts should be paid, and although the new earl, as Lord Tamworth, had befriended D’Eon and made handsome promises, he no longer thought it his duty, after succeeding to the title, to discharge the debt of honour. It should be stated that the only sums received by the Chevalière from the day that Washington, Earl Ferrers, had appropriated the 3,000l. in 1775, to the year 1791, amounted to 150l., paid in three instalments of 50l. each, between April 21 and November 26, 1776. After her return from France, she endeavoured to recover her money or the interest due; but all was in vain, and being determined that her creditors should not be the sufferers, she felt obliged to offer even her beloved library for sale, resolved ‘to carry nothing with her out of the island but her integrity and her regret at leaving it.’

It is impossible not to feel some sympathy for the unfortunate Chevalière in this ignoble treatment by a succession of British peers, with all of whom she had long been on terms of intimate friendship, even though the moral to be deduced by the circumstances is, that the would-be biter herself became the bitten one! Turning back a few pages to the time when Beaumarchais was conducting the mission entrusted to him by Louis XVI., Lord Ferrers appears as a creditor of D’Eon for 5,000l., and as if to give colour to the claim, it was represented by the supposed creditor and debtor that the iron safe filled with important documents had been deposited with the English nobleman in security for the debt, a story that cannot be regarded otherwise than as a pure invention. It is clear enough that in her anxiety to secure a sufficiently large advance out of the funds supplied by the King, who was fully disposed to liberality, but with which Beaumarchais was most unwilling to part, D’Eon had secured the earl’s sanction to the entry, in her list of liabilities, of this imaginary debt. Never for a moment doubting the genuineness of the claim after his first suspicions had been removed, or suspecting complicity in any kind of deception, Beaumarchais paid the money, but instead of immediately passing on the whole to D’Eon’s creditors, as he had promised to do, his lordship boldly retained 3,000l. for his own use and benefit, in the conviction that the Chevalière would be in no hurry to expose her own share in the double dealing, by publicly resenting the breach of trust of which he had been guilty. The Chevalière discovered, but too late, the blunder she had committed in trusting to her would-be friend, and submitted tamely enough to the earl’s shameless and unfeeling settlement, by which she was required to wait five years for her little capital, and not one year as originally convened.

The breach of trust became something worse as years rolled by, and none of Washington, Earl Ferrers’ successors, after having adorned themselves with the coronet, cared to recognise their obligation towards the needy and ill-used knight. D’Eon had awaited the pleasure of the several earls during fifteen years, before making the fearless exposure of their conduct and giving public expression to her feelings thereon, in the preface to her catalogue. When bitterly tried, a decade later, by fresh reverses of fortune, she renewed her efforts (October 1802) to recover what was her own, this time through Admiral Shirley, a brother of the deceased earl, Washington. She sent to him a copy of the bond, a calculation of the interest due on her capital of 3,000l. during twenty-seven years, and a proposal for the final adjustment of the affair. The encumbered condition of the Ferrers’ estates would have rendered nugatory any further promises, even if any such had been held out to the Chevalière, who reduced her demands to a minimum by asking for 500l. wherewith to pay pressing calls, and a yearly allowance of 100l. for the remainder of her days, no great exaction, seeing that she was then in her seventy-fifth year! Upon these conditions she was prepared to surrender the bond to the admiral, to be disposed of as he might think proper. It does not appear what notice was taken of this proposition by the deceased earl’s brother, but it is very certain that so late as January 1805, the Chevalière had not received one farthing from the Ferrers family![366]

Scarcely had the distribution of D’Eon’s Catalogue taken place, than sympathising friends made up a purse to meet her immediate necessities; a subscription list was opened at Mr. Hammersley’s, the banker, Pall Mall, where, in a very short time, the sum of 465l. 5s. was collected, 100l. being a contribution from the Prince of Wales. Another expression of feeling was a public entertainment given for D’Eon’s benefit, on June 29, 1791, by the managers of Ranelagh,[367] ‘in consideration of her having been deprived of a considerable part of her fortune by the odious detention of a deposit.’

The troubles with which France was being agitated found an echo in the heart of the unfortunate Chevalière. The news of the King’s flight, and the abolition of all orders of chivalry by the National Assembly, she received as sure warnings of coming distress to herself; and when the Legislative Assembly summoned all emigrants to make their appearance in France by a certain date, under pain of death if they disregarded the decree, she quickly made up her mind to obey the national will and return to her country. In the midst of her many apprehensions there seemed to be one gleam of comfort—for she became persuaded that the hour was at hand when she should be liberated from her state of womanhood. The sale of some of her property took place on February 17, 1792, when were disposed of at Mr. Christie’s, in Pall Mall, seventy-three lots of ‘valuable and elegant jewels, a few fine prints, valuable coins, medals, plate, &c., the property of Mademoiselle the Chevalière D’Eon,’ which realised the sum of 348l. 17s. 7d., some of the more valuable lots having been bought in.

The latter included—

A pair of single drop brilliant earrings of singular beauty, colour and perfection, 155l.

A diamond cross and chain, the stones of matchless beauty and perfection, 110l.

A pair of single drop brilliant earrings, 109 guineas.

A tortoise-shell lined snuff-box mounted in gold with miniature, and cypher on the reverse side (the gift of the Empress Elizabeth), 2½ guineas.

The personal ornaments sold comprised five pairs of gold drops, one pair in brilliants; eleven pairs of earrings, one pair in brilliants and one pair in roses; two crosses, one being in diamonds, with chain; five necklaces; one bracelet with miniature of the Chevalière in military uniform; two hoop brilliant rings; three watches, one being set in brilliants.[368]